Senior safety Parry Nickerson, right chats with fellow classmates after it was announced that he had the highest GPA on the football team last year. At West Jefferson High School, one of four high schools in Jefferson Parish tha underwent a turnaround plan last year because of low test scores, the principal pointed to early signs of progress in the example of the football team. Players charted higher GPAs early in the year and expressed better attitudes toward academics than in years past, she said.Ted Jackson/The Times-Picayune

Woodmere Elementary School in Harvey went from a cumulative school performance score of 64.5 to 74.3. Miller Wall Elementary in Marrero slipped from 73.3 to 72.8. McDonogh 26 Elementary in Gretna rose from 71.3 to 80.9, Shirley Johnson/Gretna Park Elementary bumped from 74.6 to 75.2. Washington Montessori in Kenner jumped from 72.9 to 88.3.

In the middle schools, Stella Worley Middle in Westwego climbed from 77 to 79.1. And Harry Truman Middle in Marrero slipped from 72.3 to 69.5.

At the high school level, turnaround site John Ehret High in Marrero climbed from 77.8 to 102.5. West Jefferson High in Harvey leapt from 66.7 to 90.1. Alfred Bonnabel Magnet Academy High in Kenner rose from 77.6 to 96. And Grace King High in Metairie jumped from 82.2 to 124.1.

That was enough improvement, Jefferson officials said, to pull all four schools out of a district-imposed turnaround plan for the high schools.

The Jefferson school system won an $8.6 million federal grant to launch a turnaround program in seven elementary and middle schools last year, which meant a 50 percent remaking of their faculties and new principals in cases where the previous leaders had been in place more than two years. The grant allowed the schools to establish a teacher incentive pay program on those campuses, tying bonus pay to student test scores.

While the district didn't win grant money to finance a similar program in high schools, it designed and launched its own turnaround plan in four schools, which called for switching 15 percent of the faculty members but stopped short of setting a benchmark for ousting principals.

Jefferson Parish officials said the district as a whole improved from a D grade to a C, that 27 schools out of 77 with ratings won recognition from the state for their levels of growth and that 20 schools stepped up in their letter grades attached to the scores.

Stay with NOLA.com for more on the release of Jefferson Parish's school performance scores for 2011-12.